never had such a hectic trip. ok maybe once when broheme and i were on our way back from jordan and i threw up in the back of a bus. but that's another story for another time. well. this was a close second. just plain unnerving. atl to d.c. was no problem. i had 2 and half hours until my flight to london. long enough to get a boarding pass at the boarding gate and walk around aimlessly you say? well in d.c. the security at dulles international was backed up for about 2 hours. yes i wanted to scream. yes i thought i would miss my flight. yes i hate how uneasy new security measures have made it to travel in the u.s. no it wasn't any easier in london. no i didn't understand why it wasn't easy in pakistan either. i mean c'mon. pakistan. who even thinks to terrorize this joint? kher. back to the essence of my trip. ahhh. where was i? during the atl to d.c. trip i made a friend. matt. he was a reporter for the army. he had joined the army straight out of high school and then went into journalism when he joined college and graduated with an english major. and he had been to pakistan on his way to afghanistan. i believe he said quetta and karachi. oh and he had a wife who was expecting this december but they were keeping it a secret but since i was a stranger he thought he would let me know that it was a boy and although he hadn't been too excited about it at first he was really looking forward to their baby being born. and then we talked about catholicism and then we discussed how much he didn't like math. oh he also told me that he doesn't usually talk to too many people because he thinks that they are stupid in general and that i was privileged. and so i called him a snob and ofcourse that just made him think i was funny. i on the other hand was totally serious. and then he let me use his cell phone. then we shook hands and bid each other adieu. ok so now i'm at dulles airport. that's where the madness began. yes so my ua flight was supposed to depart at 6:10p. guess what time i arrive at the boarding gate? ok fine don't guess. i'll just tell you. at 6:07p. is that not crazy? and this is an international flight. ok the flight was packed. i had one brit on my right and 2 brits on my left. all pretty uptight. i wanted to join the rowdy americans who were cheering on this guy trying to put his luggage in the overhead bin but i was stuck with these stiffs. no offense to brits. or should i say offence? kheee. ok. they did loosen up when i offered them some starburst. [side note: is that stuff legal islamically speaking?]. and then when i didn't eat the beef because the chicken ran out when the cart made it to the poor seats they all got together and gave me their salads and their buns and brownies. without joking, i think i must have eaten twice as much as both of the guys did. together. on a full belly what am i supposed to do? sleep, right? i didn't get to sleep. thanks to a crying baby to the left and the freezing cold despite the flimsy blanket. i felt ill. i arrive in london totally unrested and i had my ugly face on. if you guys know me you already know my ugly face. if not, then ask and i'll be sure to put it on. ok in london there are more security lines to wait in before getting to the right terminal and making the flight connection. with all that done i've got about 5 hours to kill. there's a quite area at heathrow which i frequented. i could sleep uncomfortably there. i could also pray comfortably there. ok what else? on the ba flight i've got another buddy. he's from pindi. he went to london to visit his cousin who has hepatitis c. he owns an electronics store. star electronics. in saddar. i write this so i can remember just in case because he helped me by almost assaulting some punk kid trying to make his way ahead of me. ok so the punk kid was pushing 30 but you get what i'm saying. i've been sleeping since i got here and now i'm all ready to bhangra. where the honies at?